War of the Worlds: The Attack (2023)

I decided to check out what was available on my various streaming services. I’ve always been a big fan of H.G. Wells so when I saw that someone had taken another shot at the classic War of the Worlds story I was interested. I really shouldn’t have been.

Things kick off with the familiar voiceover warning us that the Earth has been watched by it’s closest neighbor Mars. If you have ever watched any of these movies, you know the drill. Then there are some annoying college kids riding their bicycles in the woods. They are all apparently astronomy students or some nonsense like that. They are looking for a meteor that has crashed in the nearby woods but give up and go to Herbert’s house to crash for the night. Oh yeah one of them is named Herbert Wells as in H.G. Wells… uh oh.

The rest of the movie is them, Herbert and his friends Hannah and Ogilvy, alternately running away from aliens, running into crazy human beings, and then running away from aliens again. Along the way we get all the greatest hits like people being used as fertilizer, a crazy authority figure, and of course a science person explaining that they invaders got a cold or something microbial and died off. Why did I waste eighty-five minutes of my life on this?

This is another example of a movie that has no reason to exist. I have said repeatedly that not everything needs to reinvent the wheel and I stick to that. But War of the Worlds: The Attack begs the question “did we really need to see this same story rehashed again?” Honestly this is the same exact story only with college aged kids being the central characters. Now had they done something with that new perspective that told the story with a slightly different twist then sure good on them. But this is almost scene for scene the same story. So why?

Were the original movie and the Tom Cruise remake (which itself was somewhat interesting as it was seen thru the perspective of a father trying to save his daughter and reunite his family) not good enough? Just because something has hit public domain and is now free game for anyone to cash in on the name recognition doesn’t mean that you can’t at least try and tell your own version. In the end I found watching this incredibly boring. I’ve seen this very same story done way better several times if I include the mediocre nineties television show.

All of the above is further complicated by a production that clearly lacked the resources to bring to screen what the wanted to. Can’t drive cars because the aliens can track you, so I guess bicycles it is for our characters. Saved some cash there even if it does come off as absurdly stupid. I mean we see aliens sneak up on people standing near windows… so yeah. The few alien attacks we do see are brought to the screen using horribly rendered CGI that would have embarrassed even the fine folks over at the Asylum. Also the crowded survivor scenes is populated by at most twenty or thirty folks some of which are clearly crewmembers that weren’t needed behind the camera.

It is time for me to sound like a broken record again. Indy filmmakers please remember one of the biggest pitfalls of low budget movies. Shoot what you actually have the resources for. Sometimes that means writing a script with that in mind. Though I’m sure the scriptwriting process only went as far as “Hey War of the Worlds is in the public domain. People recognize that title grab the camera and make a movie.” The filmmakers really should have put more thought into their script. This is a terrible and pointless movie that simply didn’t need to be made. Obviously not a recommendation from me.

 

Ó Copyright 2023 John Shatzer

The Food of the Gods (1976)

I need to review more Bert I. Gordon flicks for the site and this is one of my favorites. I remember more than one Friday night spent staying up late to watch this on my local horror hosted movie show. It was a staple.

The opening credits roll around a football field were a team is practicing for the upcoming big game. Our main character, Morgan, tells us in a voiceover that they are given a couple of days off and decide to go hunting on a nearby wooded island. One of them is killed, we know by giant wasps, but the characters don’t. This leads to Morgan running into a lady at a nearby farm when looking for help. After taking their friend back to the mainland Morgan and the other hunter return to the island knowing that they need to take care of the problem themselves.

Here is where things start to get good. In addition to the men returning, we are also introduced to a businessman and a scientist that have come to cash in on the discovery made by the farmer. See there is something bubbling out of the ground that when mixed with feed will cause animals to grow to enormous size. We also meet up with a pregnant woman and her boyfriend who are stranded in their RV. Now that the characters are back on the island they must deal with rats, giant rats that are feeling a bit peckish. That means that the characters are now on the menu! Stuff happens, which I’ll not spoil here, before it all ends… or does it?

Director/Writer Bert I. Gordon knows how to make a movie like this. He spends little time introducing characters but instead sets up the MacGuffin that is causing all the giant critters and then gets to them right away! There is no mystery here as right away we know giant wasps are buzzing about, even if the characters don’t. But then Morgan runs into giant chickens right away and sees a regular sized wasp munching away on some chicken feed. Hell, Mrs. Skinner even points out the rat holes showing us that they also have gotten into the super food! We know what is coming and it comes quickly with lots of mayhem and oversized critters. This makes for a movie that not only is a blast, but also doesn’t allow you to overthink what you are watching.

The wasps, chickens, worms/maggots (awesomely gross), and rats are brought to the screen with all of Gordon’s old school tricks. You have regular sized animals crawling over miniature sets to set the scale. This model work is well done, especially the Winnebago. There are also some crude in camera bits to bring the wasps attacking the characters that I admittedly wasn’t too impressed with. But my personal favorite gag was how they use puppets and latex to have the monsters interreact on camera with the cast. That is some classic stuff and while not giant rabbit attacking in Night of the Lepus it still made me smile.

Got to burn them!

The cast is solid with Marjoe Gortner starring as our main character Morgan. The guy showed up in so many seventies movies that while you may not recognize you know who he is. We also get some classic star power with Ralph Meeker and Ida Lupino. The latter who was in The Devil’s Rain the year before. Lastly the lovely Pamela Franklin is Lorna, Morgan’s love interest, who also appeared in one of my favorites The Legend of Hell House. Gordon knew how to assemble a cast, and this is one of his better ones.

Sure, Food of the Gods is a bit silly. But that is what you should expect from a Bert I. Gordon flick. Giant sized creatures running around killing folks before getting killed off in the final act. This is a formula, and it works especially well here. If you are looking for a monster movie, then you can do a whole lot worse than this one. Give it a chance.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

First Men in the Moon (1964)

Time for some classic science fiction here at the site. This movie is based loosely on the H.G. Lewis novel of the same name. Things kick off in the “present” of the sixties as the first manned mission to the moon lands. They promptly discover a flag from Victorian England that claims the moon for the queen! Those in charge back on Earth do some digging and find a man named Bedford in an old folk’s home. He tells them a tale from decades earlier about he and his companions traveled to the moon and returned.

Bedford is living in a cottage trying to finish his great play when he fiancé Kate arrives. The pair end up entangled with Professor Cavor who lives nearby and warns them he is doing some dangerous experiments. Basically, he has discovered an element that cancels gravity and with this he has planned a trip to the moon. Bedford mortgages his cottage, which turns out not to be his, to finance the trip. To do this he has Kate sign a lot of documents that leaves her holding the bag. Yeah so our hero is a bit of a con man I think. They make it to the moon where Bedford immediately responds to the locals, an insect like race that lives below the surface, by killing a bunch of them. Quick questions, are we supposed to like the hero? More things happen before Bedford and Kate make their escape leaving the professor behind because he wants to try and work with the aliens.

Nothing quite as fun as composite shots

This is a bit of fun science fiction from the mid-sixties that I’ve always enjoyed. Though I will admit that it takes a while to get rolling as they don’t even leave for their trip until the forty-five-minute mark. Before that we get a lot of character development. Now that I’m older I found myself not liking the character of Bedford that much. He is less a charming rogue and more of a hustler. Luckily, I still think that Lionel Jeffries as Professor Cavor is still a great character. This is helped by a subplot of him trying to explain to the alien race about mankind’s propensity towards war and violence, or more accurately apologize for it. This is from Wells’ original writing and I’m glad it was brought over. As a kid I never much noticed but now it is obvious to me that Wells was trying to make a point.

What wasn’t in this book and seemingly was lifted from War of the Worlds is the fate of the aliens on the moon. Professor Cavor his sneezing a bit here and there and when the astronauts finally arrive to the subsurface city, they discover that everything is deserted with the inhabitants long dead. I guess the moral to the story is to not bother trying to make friends and understand each other because you will just end up killing them with the common cold! This is a much darker and depressing ending then I remember. It doesn’t fit the more upbeat fantasy vibe that the rest of the movie sets up. I found it all a bit jarring.

Ray Harryhausen was awesome!

Hands down the best part of First Men in the Moon are the special effects. The sphere in which they travel to the moon has a cool steam punk vibe that works perfectly. The aliens are brought to the screen with some decent costuming and masks. We get some solid composite shots establishing the action on the moon. But the absolute coolest stuff is the stop motion effects work from the legendary Ray Harryhausen. We get some great insect creatures as well as a killer giant caterpillar that I think may be a bit carnivorous. I love old school special effects and it doesn’t get any better than this man’s work.

In the end despite the flaws in the story and pacing I’d still say it was worth checking out the movie for Harryhausen’s work alone. I know that isn’t a glowing endorsement of First Men in the Moon, but I think that it is an honest one.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

Time after Time (1979)

It might seem that I’m exclusively a horror dude here at the site. But I’m also a huge fan of science fiction including non-horror sci-fi without monsters trying to destroy cities or invading the Earth. Time after Time was a favorite movie of mine growing up on that I haven’t seen in years. I was almost afraid to check it out again for fear that it wouldn’t hold up. I shouldn’t have worried.

The movie is set in Victorian England where author H.G. Wells is having a dinner party for his friends. The occasion is for him to show off the time machine that he has just invented. One of his guests, Dr. Stevens, arrives late. He has a good excuse though since he is Jack the Ripper! The police arrive shortly after and when he realizes he is cornered he jumps in the time machine to make his escape. Knowing that no one would believe him Wells decides to pursue him to the future to stop the murder spree he has unleashed on the future.

Wells arrives in modern day (nineteen seventy-nine) San Francisco. Stevenson realizes he has been followed and tries to convince his friend that he belongs in the future. That our violent world was made for him and that he should leave him there. When Wells refuses to go back to his time alone it sets into motion a battle of wits between the two men. Wells also has taken up with a woman named Amy, who Stevens has kidnapped to use for leverage. Everything comes to a head with a big showdown between the two men in a museum exhibit.

This is an excellent movie that held up for me today just as it did when I first saw it decades ago. The story is a fun alternate history of H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper. The story is exciting and keeps the audience guessing at what will happen next. It also tries to explain the historical events thru its own fictional world. I appreciated the effort, and it shows that this was a solid script that was well thought out. The direction from Nicholas Meyer, who also wrote the screenplay, is fantastic. The man made some great movies as a director and wrote even more. Hell, he wrote the screenplay for one of my favorite drive-in movies Invasion of the Bee Girls.

The cast is amazing. We have solid performances from Malcolm McDowell as Wells and Mary Steenburgen as his girlfriend Amy. There are also many other familiar faces in the cast that I won’t point out here as I don’t have the space. Though hands down the best part about Time after Time is David Warner as Dr. Stevens aka. Jack the Ripper. He is menacing in a very polite way that I found disturbingly Victorian. His performance is subdued and frighteningly realistic as a killer who knows what he is and simply doesn’t care. Though I guess maybe that is called into question at the end, but I won’t spoil it with details.

The special effects here are limited to the steampunk looking time machine and a light show when they travel from era to era. It might seem dated to an audience used to CGI, but I rather like the old school vibe to it. Again, even if it doesn’t work for you, it is hardly on the screen and not terribly important to the plot. I guess I should mention that despite this being about Jack the Ripper the kills are almost nonexistent. But then this isn’t that kind of movie so you shouldn’t expect any gore.

I have always loved Time after Time and this most recent viewing hasn’t changed that. If you haven’t checked it out, then you are missing some of the best science fiction that the seventies had to offer. Do yourself a favor and track down a copy. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Ó Copyright 2021 John Shatzer